I second Calvin and Hobbes! That strip pretty much defined comics for me between age 6 and 13.

I remember there being some pretty good comics in that old Disney Adventures! magazine, among them Jeff Smith's Bone. Might be worth a look at their back-issues to see if they've got anything your daughter would like.

A whole shitload of early Marvel comics - I mean early as in the first wave of Lee/Kirby/Ditko stuff (FF, Spider Man, X-Men, Avengers). My dad had a mixture of reprints and originals and blessedly let me tear into them without fretting about them as "collectibles". I think most of that stuff is only available in pricey hardcovers, which is unfortunate, but your library may have some...

BONE is the obvious choice, and that's coming out in color volumes from Scholastic now (if your kid isn't interested in black and white comics) - I have yet to meet a kid who didn't love it.

I remember the AKIKO books as being really nice pieces of work, targeted towards kids - girls in particular (though I wouldn't call it "girly"). Have no idea of their availability, but I believe the artists name is Mark Crilley (sp?) if that helps you track it down.

LEAVE IT TO CHANCE was an excellent younger readers book (featuring a heroic girl) by James Robinson and Paul Smith, and I think you can still find it in book form, though I wouldn't swear to it.

More comics for kids is definitely needed.My 9 year old daughter is getting into Mouse Guard, but she wants stuff without blood. She's also pretty against superhero stuff. She really likes comedy and adventure/ fantasy.Asterix and Beano sound like ones she might enjoy. Hell Asterix looks like one I might enjoy.

The more young readers we can get into comics the healthier our future. Am I right?

Great question. My daughter is an avid artist, cartoonist and reader, and it seems like a perfect fit to get her into comics (as opposed to comic strips - those, she can find easily enough). I asked this at my local shop, and they didn't have a whole lot of good suggestions - Tintin came up, which I *hated* as a kid.

I am more interested in finding my daughter ongoing serials, and as rough night says, things with one artist if possible. The kid in question is an 8 year old girl, but I want to start early on avoiding the "comics are for boys" trap that gets laid somewhere around age 11.

A lot of manga seems targeted towards kids, but not all, and honestly I think most of it is hard to follow. For older kids, Runaways is an amazing work. I really, really like it, and it's appropriate for young teens and up, I'd imagine.

I will check out Asterix and Beano, and ask my boyfriend to show her Mouse Guard. Owly has always looked very cute but I've never really looked into it closely.

I'll be following this thread...

As an aside - my boyfriend bought my daughter Puspshaw and Pushpaw by Jim Woodring for Christmas one year. She was still pretty young - and upon seeing a wordless book, her intuition was to, of course, write it. I will keep it forever. Not every kid has a self-made collaboration with Jim Woodring.

Elizabeth, you may want to look at Gunnerkrigg Court -- it's a webcomic serial (ostensibly for all ages, but definitely age appropriate for an 8 year old), and it's being collected into trades, which gives you the added bonus of being able to check out the whole thing for free before you think about getting the book version.

Now that I think about it, there are probably other collected web-comics out there that would be kid-friendly reads. With older kids, you could even share the fun of checking the site when it updates together...

Ariana: Oh, yeah! I totally forgot that my boyfriend asked me to put this on my list for when it comes out. He swears I've read it, but I can't recall doing so (maybe it was another girlfriend? =]) The art is spectacular, and I love the premise. Thanks!

I will definitely be combing web comics for collections. If there isn't a portal for this, there *really* ought to be. I'll hit up the guys at my comics shop again too - different folks have different bits of knowledge, and there might be someone who knows more about this than the guy I talked to.

I wish Wigu was a bit more family friendly - it has the best adventure stories. But without the vulgarity, it wouldn't be Wigu.

Elizabeth (and Nameless, just read back and saw you've got one about the same age) -- your kids might be interested in the Courtney Crumrin books, as well. They're a little bit darker (probably would be pg-13 if they were made into a movie, for depiction of magical beings as Not Always Nice), so YMMV. On the plus side, they're b&w, so an artistic kid with a box of colored pencils could have a field day...